Author: dehleranimal

Most of us are getting more and more familiar with Lyme disease in humans, especially in the Northeast. Did you also know that it is a significant problem in the veterinary field too? Information on Lyme disease is still being studied and guidelines and recommendations are changing all the time. Currently while our main focus and research is being done in dogs, some information is coming out on cats and horses though there is still a debate on the disease in those species.

Lyme disease, a spirochete bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi, is carried by the deer tick (Ixodes scapularus). The tick will feed on the host and while it is attached it will transfer the Lyme bacteria if it has it. Both the adult tick and the nymph form of the deer tick can carry the Lyme bacteria. It is believed that it takes 48 hours for the tick to be attached before the Lyme bacteria is transferred.

Lyme disease has different forms which cause different symptoms in the mammalian host. Most commonly in the northeast we see the form that attacks the joints. The typical symptoms in our dogs are swollen joints (usually large on leg, elbow or knee), shifting leg lameness or limping, and fever. We also see a rarer form that causes acute renal (kidney) failure. In this case you would notice your pet drinking and urinating more, showing lack of appetite, weight loss and lethargy (tiredness). Unfortunately, this form does tend to be fatal. There are some breeds that seem more susceptible to this form but it is very hard to predict which dogs will get this form. There are other form of Lyme disease such as a neurological form and a cardiac (heart) form, however we rarely see these in our dogs in the north east USA. The most important part of this is what we can do to try and prevent your dog from getting Lyme disease. Prevention is always better than a cure and with Lyme disease it is especially true. First there is a vaccine against Lyme for dogs. This is a vaccine that is given yearly and has found to be very effective in either stopping Lyme before it can become disease or if exposed, stopping any clinical symptoms from Lyme. Along side with this the most important part is good tick control. The idea here is we want to kill the tick faster than it takes for Lyme to be transmitted. We highly recommend the oral tick products as it has a faster kill time and is effective against the deer tick. We currently carry Nexgard which is given monthly and is one of the best barriers against Lyme ever reaching the canines’ system.

The other important factor is trying to catch Lyme early in the disease/exposure process so that it can be treated effectively. We test yearly in-house and have a set of specialized tests that we can send out to a lab if your canine patient has already been exposed!

The flowers are blooming, the peepers are peeping, and our 8 legged friend the tick is flourishing. It’s that time of year again, where we start checking our animals and ourselves for any invaders that may have chosen to hitch a ride. Why do we even care? Disease. There are many different species of ticks but there are 3 we focus on here in Maine: the deer tick (Ixodes scapularus), american dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis),and the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus). This will be a series of blogs starting with tick identification and an introduction to diseases they carry. Every week I will post something about the specific diseases we worry about!

Ticks have 4 life stages and not all are infectious. It starts with an adult female tick laying eggs which then hatch into larva known as the larval stage. The larva then needs a blood meal, which with the deer tick is frequently a small rodent like the white footed mouse. After the blood meal it then transforms into a nymph. They typically feed on larger mammals such as deer, humans, or canines. Nymphs are a stage that can pass on disease. Once the nymph has had a blood meal it will then transform into an adult tick and the cycle continues. It is only the nymph and adult stage that can pass on disease (see chart).

Now that we know how they come to be, Identification of the tick is the next most important step. The reason this is important is that as stated above, only an adult or nymph tick can pass the disease, and not all disease is passed on at the same rate. This diagram shows the appearance and size of the tick.

The deer tick is commonly found here in Maine and is the main carrier of Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, and Babesiosis. See image below to help with identification.

The Brown dog tick carries Canine Ehrlichiosis and Canine Babesiosis. See image below to help with identification.

The American dog tick carries canine tick paralysis (only female ticks can cause this) and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (though this disease is much less prevalent in these ticks in Maine compared to other parts of the USA). See image below to help with identification.

All these ticks quest which means they sit on vegetation and wait for a host to brush past them. Once they brush past the tick will then walk along the host until it finds a good place to feed on the host.

As with many things PREVENTION is always better than cure. We strongly recommend using an anti-tick product on a regular basis. We recommend Nexgard as an oral monthly anti-tick and flea protection product. In addition to prevention it is also very important to check your animals (and yourself) on a daily basis and remove any potential ticks!

Please feel free to call us at Dehler Animal Clinic for any further questions and keep an eye out for my next blog post about Lyme disease!

How many of us give our dog that monthly chew that does something with a worm and the heart and call it good? Well today, that is going to change. I want everyone to be well educated in one of the most significant diseases that can affect both our dogs and cats!

What is Heartworm?

Heartworm is a parasite that enters the blood stream as a larva (immature form of the worm) via a mosquito bite. In the animals’ body it then travels to the heart and lungs where it will become an adult worm. Here it will become sexually mature and produce microfilaria (immature form of the worm) which a mosquito then ingests and turns into a larva and restarts the cycle.

Why do we care about Heartworm?

As the adult worms grow in the heart they cause the heart chamber to grow as well. This eventually leads to heart failure due to the heart not being able function properly. The worms can also act as an embolus (similar to a clot) and this can cause damage to the lungs and other vital organs as they travel through the blood stream.

What are the symptoms of Heartworm?

The scary part of this disease is that at the initial stages of the disease there are no symptoms. It is not until the disease is advanced enough to cause heart failure or become emboli that you can diagnose the disease based on clinical symptoms such as coughing and lack of energy. This is why PREVENTION and regular TESTING is the best way to tackle this potentially life threatening disease!

What is heartworm testing?

The standard test is a screening test that looks for Antigen produced by the female worms. An antigen is a protein that the worms produce that go into the blood stream that we can test for. If this test is positive it means there is adult worms already present in the heart. You can also take a blood sample to look for the microfilaria (immature form of the worm) in the blood stream.

It’s that time of year again, time to talk about teeth! February is known as dental health month but truthfully the dental health of our pets is important all year round. Can you imagine if you didn’t brush your teeth every day or had loose teeth in your mouth every time you ate? If you can’t imagine it, why should our pets?!

There are many symptoms of dental disease. As owners, we commonly think of bad breath or not wanting to eat due to pain or tooth root infections as indicators for dental disease. In actual fact, there are earlier signs that we can see, such as gingivitis (inflamed gums), tartar build up, excessive licking of the mouth, dropping food out of the mouth while eating, bleeding from the gums, even irritability (especially in your geriatric kitties). Catching dental disease early and taking action is the best medicine for both you and your pet.

Now the important part: why do we even care about early intervention with dental health? Most of the time we think of dental disease as an issue in the mouth, but did you know dental disease left untreated can lead to many other diseases? What?! How can this be? The main culprit in dental disease is bacteria, and this bacteria can get into the blood stream from the gum tissue. It has some favorite places to live in the body too! It can lead to significant heart, liver and kidney disease.

Also remember it’s not just cats and dogs that need good dental hygiene, but your exotic pets too!

So why don’t you make it your goal in February to come down and get your prophylactic dental kit, dental health exam and get proactive on your pets’ smile!